What is behind Miami FC's impressive start?
Picked by most to finish at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, a rebooted Miami FC team looks like they can beat anyone
Miami FC’s fast start to the season, getting four points (the bare minimum possible based on the quality of their performances) from three very difficult matches (with the most difficult opposition of all, Charleston on deck) has stunned many across USL. Miami dispatched Colorado Springs with ease, outplayed Sacramento snatching on three “big chances” (Sacramento had one in the entire match and buried it) and feeling unlucky to draw a very good Orange County team in Irvine Saturday night.
Sporting a first-year head coach in Antonio Nocerino whose never managed a pro team before and a squad that retained just three players from last season, how do we explain the performances?
The last few seasons, Miami FC very well may have spent more on player salaries than any US men’s professional club outside MLS. Other clubs such as Birmingham, Louisville and Sacramento had high wage bills also, but if felt like Miami FC put together an “all-star” team of guys on other USL teams much like they did in NASL in 2017 (and retained many of those guys in NPSL and NISA in 2018 and 2019).
Those teams didn’t mesh as well as one would have hoped and the club not only underachieved on the pitch, but were also quite frankly a chore to watch and cover. Take it from me, a supporter who spent several seasons working with club - even I basically lost interest during 2022 and 23.
As our readers will note, last year it was colleagues led by Johnathan Starling at this site, that were doing most of the covering of MFC. I briefly reengaged once Anthony Pulis was gone as the Head Coach, but the vibe still wasn’t right.
Entering, this season, Miami FC did something totally different. Not only did they club scout harder than ever, they scouted extensively outside the US. The roster-build has been impressive to say the least.
Other USL Championship clubs tend to scout based on what they see in the league or in MLS. Miami FC, who has been uber-guilty of this approach for years, changed the roster-build tactics completely. This season, the club scouted players heavily in lower divisions overseas, USL League 1, MLS Next Pro - in addition to picking up some diamonds in the rough from within the USL Championship.
The result is a young, fit and energetic squad. One which has been molded into a unit on the training ground. This year the attacking players have more autonomy to push forward and to make creative runs and plays on the ball. Perhaps the most impressive player thus far in the attacking third for Miami FC has been 19-year old Italian Rocco Genzano, who I will freely admit, that I had never heard of before he was signed.
Defensively, the center back pairing of Daltyn Knutson and Samuel Biek have been very good thus far. Knutson I always rated highly in USL League One, particularly when he was in Omaha, but I wasn’t sure how well he’d do moving “up” a division. He’s been very good thus far and Biek has been a revelation.
Nocerino has instituted a 4-2-3-1 formation which relies heavily on high-tempo play and more freedom of movement going forward than this side enjoyed under Anthony Pulis. While shape is important to Nocerino’s setup, it's not the sort of withdrawn defensive shape which dropped playmakers deep and prevented the fullbacks from making daring forward runs like we saw under Pulis.
As Miami FC goes forward it will be interesting to see how much change we see in the tactical shape of the side and whether or not younger players who sometimes hit walls during long seasons continue to thrive as they are currently.
In facing Orange County SC, Miami FC was playing a similarly energetic side who are stocked full of young talent. Orange County’s equalizer came from Ashton Miles, an OCSC Academy product with huge upside.
The match itself was a gem, something I’ll leave to my colleague Johnathan Starling to work through in his weekly Third Half column.
Spot on, Kartik! In particular, Allen Galivanes has been such a spark plug for the team, Andrew Booth has done a great job opening up opportunities in the midfield and the backline has really been impressive in its discipline. I'm so excited to see this club in person when I go up to Pittsburgh and Phoenix in May!